


The Outsiders: Lovely Sweet Nightmare

by orphan_account



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Actually A Nightmare If You Could Call It That, Body Horror, Dream Violence, Get Out If You Hate Violence, Glitch Violence, I´m Serious This Isn´t For The Faint-Hearted, LSD: Dream Emulator, M/M, Nightmare Fuel, Other, Seriously If You´re A Pacifist Don´t Read This, These Are Not Tags They´re A Warning To Your Innocence, alternate endings, violence in general
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 19:10:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16603865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: sorry for such short chapters. since i'm done with the main character introductions, i'm planning to fix that. ^^





	1. Soda - Two-Bit

“In the dark, rationality seemed stupid and logic a dream. In the dark he thought with his skin.”  
-Stephen King, _Misery_

There was Here, and then there was Somewhere. Somewhere was the real world, the one that now didn't seem so real anymore. Here was strange, and it was psychedelic, and it was very terrifying very often, but Here was where the gang found themselves trapped, and, at first, it seemed there was nothing they could do about it. One second, they were all peacefully asleep in their beds. The next, they were Here.

But that's skipping ahead a bit too much. Let's rewind a bit.

When Two-Bit Mathews woke up, he did so with a pounding headache. For a minute, all he saw was yellow, a light yellow that surrounded him and confused him greatly. Then his eyes focused, and he realized that he was not at home, where he was supposed to be, but somewhere else. Two-Bit did not recognize this place at all. It wasn't the lot, for sure, nor was it one of his friends' places.

He stood up slowly, wincing as a bolt of pain sliced through his head. If this place had some aspirin, he was going to find it. Then, a familiar voice cut his thoughts off completely, and he forgot about his headache.

"Hey, guys, where are you? Pony, Darry, can y'all hear me?"

It was Soda. Two-Bit stumbled in the direction he thought he heard Soda's voice come from, a hallway that lead to a staircase.

"Soda? Man, where're you at? This place is drivin' me crazy!" he called, and some weird sixth sense inside of him could almost feel Soda turn towards his voice, wherever he was.

Soda's voice was closer this time. "Two-Bit? That you? Where are we?"

"I have no frickin' idea where we are, but just come to my voice. Savvy?" Two-Bit stepped closer to the stairs, waiting. Something about this building just didn't sit right in his bones, for some reason, and it gave him the creeps. Then Soda pounded up the stairs, almost running into him. Soda grinned.

"Boy, am I glad to see you!" he said almost gratefully. "I almost had a heart attack when I realized I wasn't in bed- anyways, have you seen any of my brothers anywhere?"

Two-Bit couldn't help but grin himself. "Nah- honestly, I thought I was all alone until you came bouncin' up. Now, how 'bout we find the others and get outta here?"

"Sure! C'mon, I'm startin' to feel homesick already!"

The only problem was, it would be harder to leave than they both thought. The place they woke up in was only the tip of a hellish iceberg that never seemed to end. They found that out soon enough.

Boy, did they.


	2. Ponyboy

"Seems like everyone's sleepwalking through their waking state, or wake walking through their dreams."

\-  _ Waking Life _

 

_ _

 

Flesh. The walls were made of flesh. Ponyboy felt almost horrified, mostly shocked. It was like a womb, or something. Ponyboy knew it was flesh, though it looked more like a horrid combination of whipped cream and strawberry Jello.

He was in what seemed like a tunnel.  _ It sure does look like a womb. Flesh tunnels, who woulda thought of that, _ he thought, barely grinning. He looked to his left, his right, back forward. From where he was, the ends of the tunnel looked swathed in a bright red mist, much brighter than the walls. His legs didn't want to move- heck, his  _ entire body _ didn't want to move, but he found himself walking in a direction anyway.

_ This is a tunnel, _ he thought.  _ And how do you get out of a tunnel? _

Well, going in a direction until you saw something change was pretty final.

Ponyboy kept moving, and the crimson fog receded more and more as he did, making it look like he wasn't getting anywhere.

Suddenly, he stopped. Was that speck he saw amongst the scarlet horizon a distant figure approaching him, or was his oh-so creative mind deciding to play tricks again? Ponyboy, very briefly and very deliriously, decided that it was his current life´s goal to find out what that speck was, and he started moving again, gaining speed, destined to find out whether or not he was alone here.

The figure moved towards him as well, clear now that it was out of the fog, and, for a second, Ponyboy could not believe his eyes.

  


A small chuffing sound escaped from his throat. Looking as raw as an uncooked chicken, the thing he had so wondered about approached him. Its red eyes glowed as much as the distant mist did, and an unmoving smile lifted its lipless mouth. A red heart-like shape on its chest showed a symbol that was, to Ponyboy´s mildly trained eye, Japanese.

**胎**

The strange-looking chicken-teddy bear-baby creature eyed him up with curiosity, squeaked quietly, then went on its way.

_ This place isn't right,  _ Ponyboy thought as he turned his head to watch the creepy hybrid hobble away.  _ From the way that thing looked at me, it was as if  _ I _ was the weird one. This place isn't right at all. _


	3. Dallas - Johnny

"There is an area of the mind that could be called unsane, beyond sanity, and yet not insane. Think of a circle with a fine split in it. At one end there's insanity. You go around the circle to sanity, and on the other end of the circle, close to insanity, but not insanity, is unsanity."

\- Terrance McKenna

 

 

Dallas and Johnny woke up the same way they fell asleep: together. Dallas helped Johnny up, his own feet feeling unsteady on the purple ground that reverberated his footsteps into a buzzing staccato that vibrated the deep epicenters of his brain.

At first, Johnny didn't even seem to notice their unfamiliar surroundings. Now he looked at Dallas, his expression as bewildered as Dallas felt, perhaps more.

"Dal?" Johnny pondered quietly, and Dallas could almost hear the rest of his question, though it was unspoken.  _ Where are we? _

"Hell, I don't know." Dallas looked around. "You think the gang's here too?"

Johnny sighed, his breath watery and trembling. "There  _ has _ to be someone here, right?" Dallas put an arm around the smaller boy.

"I'm sure there is, Johnnycake." He pointed to a square shape in the distance. "There, look. That's probably a sign." They approached it.

A sign it was. In English… it wasn't. Dallas swore quietly to himself.

"Can things get  _ any _ harder? First this whole messed-up world, now the signs have to be in some kind of damn Chinese." 

The sign, marking a pathway with its sturdy wooden presence, held these words:

**_タウンへようこそ！_ **

**_人口：-7_ **

 

 


	4. Darry

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened."

\- Douglas Adams

 

 

Darry saw nothing but blackness.

But then he realized his eyes were closed. He opened them and still saw nothing but blackness.

And yet _that_ wasn't very accurate, either. The world around him was monochrome- completely monochrome, except for him. He had had a quick moment of panic where he had to check himself to see if _he_ had gone monochrome, too. He hadn't, fortunately.

Darry heard a giggle to his left. He turned just in time to see a grey, faceless little girl scamper past him with a stick and hoop, having the time of her life. Maybe she knew where he was. She certainly looked like this place was her home.

"Excuse me, sweetheart?" Darry called briskly, politely. The little girl turned to face him- not like she _had_ a face. But Darry could tell that he had her attention.

"Do you know where we are right now? Is your mother around?" he asked. The little girl started to approach him, rolling her little hoop along. Darry was almost relieved; for sure, this child was going to help him.

The grey girl stopped only inches from him, looking up at him with her smooth, featureless face. She had no eyes, yet Darry could swear that she was making direct eye contact- too direct.

In a high and beautiful voice (that, in its lovely splendor, still sounded nowhere near human), the little girl asked, "Hahaoya wa nanidesu ka?"

She touched him, and for a long moment Darry was blinded by a bright white flash.

When the light cleared, Darry was not where he was before.


	5. Steve

"Reality is an illusion albeit a persistent one."

-Albert Einstein

 

 

The smell of oil and gas around Steve was comforting. He looked around, seeing unfamiliar surroundings.  _ That _ was not so comforting.

He stood, rubbing his head.  _ Man, this place had me thinking I sleepwalked to the DX or somethin’,  _ he thought.  _ Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve even ever  _ thought  _ of this place. Where the hell am I? _

Steve looked around. Maybe some of the gang were here.

“Yo!” he called. “Soda? Darrel? You guys here?” 

The only response was the echo of his own voice. Then an idea struck him.

Steve didn’t know if he had service here or not, but he was desperate, and an idea was an idea. He pulled out his cell phone, took a deep breath, then dialled and waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such short chapters. since i'm done with the main character introductions, i'm planning to fix that. ^^


	6. Sinking - Place of Living

_ Ponyboy _

 

It seemed like the fleshy tunnel was endless. The thoughts spiraling in Ponyboy´s head definitely were.

He had tried going in both directions,  _ twice _ , to no avail. It just seemed to  _ go on forever. _

Ponyboy groaned and beat his fists against his knees. Usually he would do this against a wall, but with the walls of the tunnel being what they were, he found himself disgusted with just the thought of it. That was when his imagination kicked in and filled in the rest- his hand not just hitting the wall but  _ sinking _ into it, getting stuck in the strange mess and having it pull him in, part by part, as blood from where he struck the wall squirted into his eyes and mouth.

A shudder ran through him. Yeah, best not to do  _ that _ .

But if he couldn't get out of here, what could he do?

 

_ Darry _

 

_ _

 

**__**

It took Darrel a while to recover after that bright white light had nearly blinded him, and even when he  _ could _ see he had to squint from the bright afterimage.

There was color in the place he had landed up this time, and Darry found himself almost grateful for that.  _ Just as long as I'm not the one ending up monochrome this time, _ he thought, crazed, and had to check himself again. He was fine, like last time.

Then he saw the great red arches in front of him and smiled. Even if this  _ was _ some sort of messed-up dream, he'd always wanted to go to Japan. Never had enough money to, though.

Darry walked across the sand, thinking that it was eerie that the only sound he could hear was his grainy footsteps. No music. No birds singing, or any other sounds of living things. He could barely even hear himself  _ breathing.  _ Near silence was all his ears registered.

 And he'd thought Kyoto was a place of living.


	7. Only One Hearing

_Sodapop/Two-Bit_

¨Hey, Two-Bit? There's something you gotta see...¨

Two-Bit Mathews turned towards Sodapop. He had been looking around at the yellow walls and tiled floor with little interest, but now he looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow. Soda looked back at him, alarm in his eyes being the same emotion that was in his tone.

¨What is it?¨

¨I think you gotta just see it for yourself, man. It's pretty gross.¨

¨It ain't a dead body, now, is it?¨

¨No, but-¨

¨Well, all right. Lemme see.¨

Two-Bit stretched, walked over to where Soda was standing. His eyes widened.

 

 

¨Whew. What do you think  _ that _ is, Sodapop?¨

¨I dunno. It looks pretty freaky, though.¨

Two-Bit put a hand to his temple. His headache had returned, and now it was more relentless than ever. The thing protruding from the wall looked at him.

Clearly, he heard:  _ Hello! What's your name? _

¨Soda, I didn't know that thing could  _ speak _ !¨

Sodapop looked at him, confused. ¨It can't- at least, not that I know of. Why?¨

¨Didn't you just hear it?¨

¨Hear what?¨

Two-Bit knew he wasn't hearing things.

Only problem was, he was the only one who heard them.


	8. Gone

_Sodapop/Two-Bit_

 

¨So you´re sure you don't hear anyone?¨

¨Like I said, Two-Bit, and like I'm sayin´ for the twentieth time already: the only people I hear speakin´ in here are you and me. Besides,¨ Soda gestured to the thing protruding from the wall, ¨I don't even think this thing could count as a person.¨

Two-Bit shook his head. ¨I don't even think we know what the hell it  _ is, _ Soda.¨

A bolt of pain shot through his head again. Two-Bit winced.

And that voice again, the clear one that only he could hear, in a tone sounding slightly offended.

_ Well, aren´t you two rude! _

Two-Bit looked at it, at its large fleshy presence. Its expression hadn't changed, but he'd swear on his mother´s name that there was a bit of a hurt glimmer in its eyes.

¨Sorry ´bout that, buddy. Really, though, what are you?¨ he asked it, as politely as he could manage.

The smile on the creature's thick lips widened a little. Its voice was young and old, feminine and masculine all at once.

_ Ah! So you can hear me! _

It reached out. One of its large hands planted itself on Soda´s shoulder, the other on Two-Bit´s.

Two-Bit, however, was the only one who stayed. Sodapop had disappeared.


	9. Abandon

My friends, the nightmare has gone to sleep.

No, honestly: this series has been impromptu discontinued.

It died a long time ago, if you ask me.

So, yeah. Bye.

-revamption


End file.
